Khader Adnan agrees to end hunger strike in light of a deal struck between the state and his lawyers.

Khader Adnan, the Palestinian administrative detainee who has been on a hunger
strike for 66 days, told the state through his lawyer Tuesday that he has agreed
to end his hunger strike in light of a deal struck between the state and his
lawyers. The announcement came less than an hour before a scheduled High Court
of Justice hearing on his petition demanding that he be charged or
released.

In its request, the state presented the court with a copy of an
agreement signed by both Adnan's attorney, Jawad Boulos, and attorney Vered
Halawa of the Judea and Samaria Military Advocate General. It says that after
the matter was brought before the attorney-general, the state agreed to offset
the days Adnan was detained for the purpose of a criminal investigation prior to
his administrative detention, from the period of the current detention
order.

The agreement further says that if no significant new material is
added to the case, the military advocate general will not extend Adnan’s
detention beyond April 17.

In the light of the state’s announcement,
Adnan’s lawyers said he had ended his hunger strike, the agreement
said.

Outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on Tuesday, a small group of
Adnan’s supporters came to show solidarity. Perhaps owing to the news that a
deal had been reached, there were barely more than a handful of protesters, and
they were nearly outnumbered by the journalists on the scene, most of whom were
from the foreign press.

Ran Cohen, director of Physicians for Human Rights Israel,
which has supplied doctors to treat Adnan during his hunger strike, said
Tuesday’s decision represented a success in the fight against administrative
detention.

“This is a success not only in the case of Adnan himself, but
more in that it brought the subject of administrative detentions to the
forefront of the public debate.”

Cohen, whose organization played a
central role in bringing media attention to Adnan’s case, said the deal was a
result not only of the large media spotlight on the case, but also the fact that
Adnan was able to persist in his hunger strike for such a long period of
time.

He added that Adnan was able to “push Israel into a corner through
a non-violent act of resistance.”

Ahead of the announcement of the deal,
around 100 Palestinians staged a protest outside Ofer Prison in the West Bank,
where they demanded Adnan’s immediate release. The IDF said protesters threw
rocks at security forces stationed at the prison, and protesters said that 11
people were injured by rubber bullets fired at them by security
forces.

Following the agreement between Adnan’s lawyers and the state,
there appeared to be some confusion in the Palestinian Authority over what had
happened, with multiple Arabic news sources citing PA prisoners affairs minister
Issa Qaraqe as saying that “Israel's Supreme Court had ruled to release
Adnan.”

In response to those reports, Ofir Gendelman, the prime
minister's spokesman to the Arab media, said via Twitter that the court had not
decided to release Adnan, and also noted that Adnan had not been
exonerated.

Gendelman also tweeted that there is “concrete evidence which
came from intelligence information that [Adnan] is an Islamic Jihad
terrorist.”

“If he returns to violence & terror, he will be arrested
again,” he added.

Also following the announcement of the deal that ended
Adnan’s hunger strike, Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad issued a statement via its
Arabic-language Facebook page, saying that Adnan had “won the praise of Allah
over his captors.”

Islamic Jihad, which has killed scores of Israelis in
suicide bombings, had previously threatened “painful revenge” on Israel should
Adnan die from his hunger strike.

The 33-year-old Islamic Jihad member
from the West Bank village of Arrabe began the hunger strike on December 18, the
day after he was arrested in his home by IDF troops. Adnan called the strike
over what he said was abusive treatment by the arresting soldiers and to protest
administrative detentions, in which suspects arrested by the IDF in the West
Bank are held without being charged.

The hunger strike is Adnan’s second:
In 2010, he initiated a hunger strike following his arrest by the Palestinian
security services for allegedly joining illegal militias.

A senior Islamic Jihad
official said Adnan was a “symbol” and added that “armed resistance alone would
free prisoners and the al-Aksa Mosque,” while Palestinian factions in Gaza also
organized a sit-in rally on Tuesday in solidarity with Adnan, Dubai-based Arabic
web portal Al Moheet reported.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel
(ACRI) said in response to the agreement that it was “unclear” why Adnan had not
been released from administrative detention on Tuesday, if the state did not
intend to indict him.

“It is unfortunate that only after a person went on
hunger strike and was on the verge of death that the state announced it did not
intend to extend his administrative detention,” said attorney Lila Margalit.
ACRI added that hundreds of other Palestinians remain in detention, and called
on the state to charge or release them.

Administrative detentions are
arrests carried out by the IDF on behalf of the Shin Bet (Israel Security
Agency), in which the detainee is not told what charges he is facing and is not
brought before a judge. The detentions are usually for a set period of up to six
months, but can be extended indefinitely.

According to Israel Prisons
Service figures, at the end of December 2011 there were 307 Palestinians on
administrative detention in Israeli jails, an increase from 219 in January 2011.
Adnan himself was given a four-month administrative detention order on January
8, 2012.

Likud MK Danny Danon took a more negative approach to news of
the deal, saying Israel had “capitulated to terrorism. This deal renders
the Israeli values system meaningless.”

Also Wednesday, Foreign Minister
Avigdor Lieberman slammed the Israeli Arab MKs who have visited Adnan during his
hospitalization, saying that they were “representing terrorists” in the
Knesset.

He also called them hypocrites for protesting Adnan’s detention
while at the same time ignoring Syrian President Basher Assad’s brutal crackdown
on members of the Syrian uprising.